SSE blames warm weather and competition for flat profits

SSE has blamed high temperatures and competition for flat profits, but refuses to drop prices

SSE has warned investors that profits will remain flat this year, due to increased completion and warm weather conditions.

The above average temperatures in the UK over the past six months have seen households use 23% less gas on average.

In addition, a number of cheap tariffs have flooded the market this year, the majority of which are available through small energy suppliers.

The big six energy supplier also announced that it had lost an additional 100,000 customers in the past five months, taking the number of households which have switched away to half a million.

No price drops

Although SSE did acknowledge that wholesale gas prices have fallen, it refused to drop prices, stating that it had frozen rates until 2016 and that costs would fluctuate during this period.

In a statement, the energy company said: “Guaranteeing not to increase prices for such a long period of time requires a long-term view of costs; wholesale energy now accounts for less than 50% as other costs have increased, and SSE therefore believes that this commitment should also be judged over the long term.”

SSE announced that its adjusted profits for the six months prior to September rose by 4.6% to £370.3m. The increase was due to a rise in profits from its regulated network business and reduced losses from its residential supply business.

Savvy consumers heading to small suppliers

According to Energy UK, the industry’s trade body, 138,000 households switched from one of the big six companies to a smaller supplier in October. Head of Energy UK, Angela Knight said: “There are more companies than ever before in the electricity market and they are offering a wide range of deals.”

Independent energy suppliers such as First Utility and Ovo Energy, have been attracting a growing number of customers thanks to lower priced energy tariffs. First Utility recently signed up its one millionth customer account, whereas Ovo Energy has trebled its customer accounts to 400,000 in the past 12 months.

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Personally I have had no problems with sse always sorted any problems out straight away can’t trust these small energy suppliers they don’t ever send anyone out to read the meter. What happens if there is a problem they don’t seem to have workmen to fix it.

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